The semiconductor industry has experienced rapid growth due to improvements in the integration density of a variety of electronic components (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.). For the most part, this improvement in integration density has come from shrinking the semiconductor process node (e.g., shrinking the process node towards the sub-20 nm node).
Electronic design automation (EDA) software tools provide a variety of functions related to design, simulation, analysis, verification, and manufacturing of integrated circuits (ICs). Advances in computing speed and power, as well as memory capacity, have reduced the amount of time required to complete such functions. Simultaneously, increased design complexity (number of devices and interconnections there between) and more rapid design cycles cause IC designers to rely more heavily on EDA software tools to produce IC layouts that perform correctly while meeting time-to-market goals.